This weekend sees the Portuguese Taça da Liga final played between Benfica and Gil Vicente. The Lisbon giants start as overwhelming favourites, but that will not overawe Gil one bit.
Paulo Alves’ side have acquitted themselves admirably to life back in the top flight this season, gaining wins over FC Porto, Sporting and Braga. And although their two league games against Benfica yielded a draw and a defeat, the modest team from the northern town of Barcelos pushed the Eagles all the way on both occasions.
Gil’s refusal to adopt an overly defensive attitude when facing the bigger teams have won the club many friends. Alves is not just playing lip service when he says, “we’ll be doing everything to win, so I expect a good game and a festival of football.”
Furthermore, in pacey and skilful Portuguese centre-forward Hugo Vieira, Gil have a player who is surely destined for bigger things and who can cause any defence trouble.
So a fourth straight triumph in a competition that is in only its fifth year is by no means a foregone conclusion for Benfica. Nevertheless, Benfica’s fans, who are increasingly asking questions about the future of coach Jorge Jesus, may not see it that way.
Benfica-leaning paper ‘A Bola’ ran a poll this week asking whether Jesus should continue at the helm of Portugal’s most popular club. The result was split straight down the middle, and it’s easy to understand why.
Since taking the reins three years ago Jorge Jesus has got Benfica consistently playing their best football in the last two decades. As well as the swashbuckling title triumph in his debut year, the team have progressed year on year in European play, culminating in a Champions League quarter-final appearance this season.
However, while losing out on the title last year against André Villas-Boas’s all-conquering FC Porto was forgivable, the feeling in the Portuguese capital is that Benfica have thrown away the title in 2011/12. Although mathematically they are still in with a shout, a five-point lead has been converted into a four-point deficit in recent weeks. With just four matches remaining, it’s Benfica’s bitter rivals from the north who look set to lift the crown yet again, despite a far from convincing campaign under a coach living on borrowed time.
Most worrying of all, a consistent theme in Jesus’ three years in charge at the Estádio da Luz has emerged: his teams tend to fade badly towards the business end of the season. As a consequence, the coach has taken a lot of flak for his inability to rotate the squad effectively and several critics have quickly arrived at a damning conclusion as regards the veteran coach: “you can’t teach an old dog new tricks.”
Lifting the Taça da Liga trophy will certainly not be redemption, as Jesus himself acknowledged in the pre-match press conference: “It’s important we win this trophy, but winning it will not save our season.”
However, it may just provide a stay of execution and persuade Benfica president Luis Filipe Vieira to allow the charismatic coach to at least see out his contract, which runs until the summer of 2013. Defeat, on the other hand, and the clamour for Jesus’ head may be too loud to resist.
Gil’s refusal to adopt an overly defensive attitude when facing the bigger teams have won the club many friends. Alves is not just playing lip service when he says, “we’ll be doing everything to win, so I expect a good game and a festival of football.”
Furthermore, in pacey and skilful Portuguese centre-forward Hugo Vieira, Gil have a player who is surely destined for bigger things and who can cause any defence trouble.
So a fourth straight triumph in a competition that is in only its fifth year is by no means a foregone conclusion for Benfica. Nevertheless, Benfica’s fans, who are increasingly asking questions about the future of coach Jorge Jesus, may not see it that way.
Benfica-leaning paper ‘A Bola’ ran a poll this week asking whether Jesus should continue at the helm of Portugal’s most popular club. The result was split straight down the middle, and it’s easy to understand why.
Since taking the reins three years ago Jorge Jesus has got Benfica consistently playing their best football in the last two decades. As well as the swashbuckling title triumph in his debut year, the team have progressed year on year in European play, culminating in a Champions League quarter-final appearance this season.
However, while losing out on the title last year against André Villas-Boas’s all-conquering FC Porto was forgivable, the feeling in the Portuguese capital is that Benfica have thrown away the title in 2011/12. Although mathematically they are still in with a shout, a five-point lead has been converted into a four-point deficit in recent weeks. With just four matches remaining, it’s Benfica’s bitter rivals from the north who look set to lift the crown yet again, despite a far from convincing campaign under a coach living on borrowed time.
Most worrying of all, a consistent theme in Jesus’ three years in charge at the Estádio da Luz has emerged: his teams tend to fade badly towards the business end of the season. As a consequence, the coach has taken a lot of flak for his inability to rotate the squad effectively and several critics have quickly arrived at a damning conclusion as regards the veteran coach: “you can’t teach an old dog new tricks.”
Lifting the Taça da Liga trophy will certainly not be redemption, as Jesus himself acknowledged in the pre-match press conference: “It’s important we win this trophy, but winning it will not save our season.”
However, it may just provide a stay of execution and persuade Benfica president Luis Filipe Vieira to allow the charismatic coach to at least see out his contract, which runs until the summer of 2013. Defeat, on the other hand, and the clamour for Jesus’ head may be too loud to resist.
